NEWSWORTHY
Popular HKT48 idol Rino Sashihara announces plans to leave next year
Pop idol Rino Sashihara, a popular member of AKB48 affiliate HKT48, said Saturday she will leave the sister group next year after a graduation concert in April. "I, Rino Sashihara, will graduate from HKT48," the teary entertainer said during a concert in Tokyo, according to ...
Defining the Heisei Era: Examining the rise of otaku culture
With the number of children shrinking, popular entertainment naturally began targeting the otaku population that didn't hesitate to open their wallets for material many considered juvenile.
Atsuko Maeda, 27, a pop cultural icon and original member of the all-girl group AKB48, has married actor Ryo Katsuji, 31, an official of his management company said on Tuesday. "We will continue to support each other and sincerely engage in each and every project ...
Idol group AKB48 increases reach in Asia with new unit SGO48 in Vietnam
Pop act AKB48 will add another Asian "sister group" to its ever-expanding family of all-girl idol units by setting up the group SGO48 in Vietnam. The new unit will be formed in Ho Chi Minh City by the end of this year, with auditions for ...
SKE48's Jurina Matsui wins first AKB48 popularity contest to include sister groups
Jurina Matsui of SKE48, one of the AKB48 family of all-female idol groups, has taken the No. 1 spot in the franchise's annual popularity contest, which was the first to let its Thai and Taiwanese members join the 10-year-old event. Fans voted Matsui to the ...
Final audition for AKB48's Manila sister group fast approaching
The final audition to be part of AKB48's soon-to-be-launched Philippine sister group will be held in Manila early next month, with members of the Japanese all-girl group coming to mark the culmination of months of nationwide tryouts. According to Japanese-owned firm Hallo Hallo Entertainment Inc., ...
Fuji TV's wishful thinking is food for thought
Since 1987, Fuji TV has owned Monday night, specifically the 9 to 10 p.m. time slot, when it broadcasts fluffy romantic drama series starring the season's hottest actress and often a prominent member of a boy band. This phenomenon has its own name — getsu-ku ...
Fukuoka man faces charges for illegally dumping hundreds of AKB48 CDs
The Fukuoka Prefectural Police have filed charges against a man in his 30s from Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, who allegedly illegally discarded 585 CDs of the girls pop group AKB48 on a mountain, it was learned Tuesday. The police turned over to the prosecutor's office Monday ...
AKB48 sets a chart record, but Daoko and Kenshi Yonezu are playing the long game
Call it the end of an era. Last week, AKB48's 49th single "#Sukinanda" sold over 1 million copies to take the top spot on the Oricon singles chart. Besides being the first song in the No. 1 position to feature a hashtag in its ...
Music's shifting tides reveal a hunger for artistry in Japan
Music is often characterized over-simplistically as a battle between rock and pop, seriousness and fun, but the two are always in an ever-shifting balance. With this column coming to the end of its six-year run, it feels timely to cast a look back — ...
All-girl idol group AKB48 to launch sister group in Inland Sea region
Japan's all-girl idol group AKB 48 is launching yet another sister group, this time to be based in the Seto Inland Sea area. STU48 stands for Setouchi, the Japanese name of the coastal areas surrounding the waterway in western Japan. It will have its theater ...
Producer Yasushi Akimoto joins Sony Music in apologizing for girl band's Nazi-like outfits
The man behind AKB48 expresses regret after a different act performed in outfits resembling Nazi-era military uniforms.
